


The Subtle Art of Sharing a Bed

by Kimmy



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Bane Chronicles - Sarah Rees Brennan & Cassandra Clare & Maureen Johnson
Genre: Dorks in Love, Fluff, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 17:05:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11902233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimmy/pseuds/Kimmy
Summary: After a long day, too exhausted even for sex, Magnus and Alec are trying to go to sleep... which turns out a lot more difficult a task than expected.





	The Subtle Art of Sharing a Bed

**Author's Note:**

> It all started with a tweet (https://twitter.com/kingabudzyn/status/893762343099871233) and ended here. I wrote it long ago but couldn't get around to posting because I wasn't quite happy with it... I am still not sure I am, so you know, comments and opinions welcome.  
> Anyone, on an important note, I tagged Bane Chronicles, but if you haven't read them please don't take any of what I've written as granted, it's all bullshit. I modified canon to fit my needs and only the characters stayed.

 

“Why does it feel so awkward?”

 

Magnus chuckles and shakes his head to emphasise he has no idea either.

 

“Aren’t we supposed to snuggle up, or something?”

 

Magnus smirks.

 

“Tactile couple thingy?”

 

“Tactile couple thingy.”

 

Alec nods seriously and they both stare at each other seriously before bursting into a fit of giggles.

 

“Don’t laugh at me, Mags, I’ve never done this before! I’m used to sleeping alone and cocooning myself in a duvet. It feels weird to not have the other edge of it to wrap under myself.”

 

Magnus calm down, letting out last soft laugh and turns to him with an amused expression.

 

“I get you.” Alec hits him with pillow and Magnus laughs, free and genuine sound. “I really do!” He says, slapping the pillow back on Alec’s face and they shift a bit closer.

 

“This is… nice. Having someone here but silence to fall asleep with but I’m not exactly sure how to do this either.”

 

“Why?” Alec’s brow furrows adorable in confusion. “You’ve done this before.”

 

Magnus looks down, biting his lip, quiet, as if he didn’t want to answer and yet wanted to be honest with Alec.

 

“I didn’t… exactly. Not really.”

 

“But you’ve been in relationships before.”

 

“That, yeah, yes, of course… Alec, there is something I have to tell you.”

 

Magnus looked scared and ashamed and it had Alec on edge.

 

“Mags? It’s alright. You know you can tell me anything.”

 

“But it’s not alright, Alexander. Because I lied to you.”

 

Alec’s eyes didn’t widen or filled with hurt or contempt like Magnus’ expected. They were still patient, sympathetic, waiting for explanation.

 

“I didn’t have seventeen thousand lovers, Alec.”

 

Except for a soft “oh” Alec is silent, waiting.

 

“I guess I just… Came up with seventeen of the top of my head and then I panicked and kept coming up with this ridiculous stuff to… I’m not sure if it was to impress you or see if it will scare you away but it didn’t and then I had no idea how to say it was a lie, if I should play it off as a joke, and it wasn’t even funny…”

 

“Magnus.”

 

Magnus inhaled sharply, letting Alec gently caress his arm in an attempt to calm him down.

 

“It’s okay, Magnus. I don’t care.”

 

“I’m really sorry though. It was stupid. I don’t know why I did it.”

 

Alec smiled at that.

 

“You’re a ridiculous, ridiculous man, Magnus Bane, and I love you for it.”

 

“I…” Magnus shakes his head, as if annoyed with himself but then sighs into a pillow and smiles. He looks happy, but he looks like a man on a mission. “I’m 400 years old. I was born in Indonesia… And I never really had much luck in my love life.” 

 

He huffs in exasperation and amusement. Alec takes his hand.

 

“That is until I met you, of course.”

 

Alec chuckles softly, and Magnus continues.

 

“I was a sad, sad virgin--” He laughs freely and without shame, his eyes crinkling adorably. “--up until like… 130 or something.”

 

Alec suppresses a snort.

 

“You can laugh, Alec, it  _ is _ funny. But you see, I still looked 19, no one questioned it, and mentally… I was very much stuck at that 19.”

 

Alec coughed out something that sounded suspiciously like “you still are” so Magnus opted to ignore him with just a glare sent in his direction.

 

“I lost my virginity to a friend who was not even… We were kinda dating and she was a mundane and we were both inexperienced virgins. It was all very awkward and basically a learning curve, and first girlfriend altogether for me, and first boyfriend for her. It was… fine, but we decided it was also rather weird and broke up. She was a good friend. She invited me to her wedding later.”

 

Alec laughs and squeezes his hand. 

 

“After that I… I met a few girls and never did more than kissed… It all kinda changed around 1800s. It was a time… I started figuring out my sexuality. It was all very underground but the society started becoming different. And I had my first time with a man, and I started discovering what hookups are. I think that was the first time I kinda discovered I really just… you know,  _ liked _ sex.”

 

Alec blushes but doesn’t say anything.

 

“And I was still tragically single, but I started the kind of lifestyle I like now, you know.” He laughs and hides his face in a pillow, the great Magnus Bane, being  _ shy _ . “Parties, glamour and hedonistic sex for just one night when I felt too lonely. I had maybe three or four a bit more serious partners, but it never reached the level of staying over at each other’s place without fucking.”

 

Alec surprisingly doesn’t seem to flinch at the word. It makes Magnus relax a little.

 

“And after that I didn’t really…. Have any human contact until… 1960s, when I bought Pandemonium. And since then I only dated Dot for a few months and it was more of a… friends with benefits kind of thing anyway. I had a few one night stands…. And then I met you.”

 

They both smile sappily until Magnus’ face turns more serious.

 

“And besides that, I only had three more meaningful relationships in my life. Imasu Morales was a rather…. interesting affair back in Peru where I figured out I will never make a career in music, fell in love hopelessly and had a lot of fun, but… it was never serious for him. And…  it kind of looks different in hindsight, but yes, we had sex every night.”

 

Alec’s face is red but not judging and Magnus laughs.

 

“Then there was Etta and… Etta and I had that weird relationship where we kind of spent her life together but after a first few dates and kisses it’s become clear it was not like that and… we shared kisses and we loved each other but there was nothing really sexual between us and although we actually lived together for over six decades till her death, we had separate rooms in our house. It just… It just worked like that.”

 

Alec squeezes his hand again, knowing what comes next and Magnus sighs.

 

“And Camille sometimes had sex with me, sometimes drank from me and sometimes just… Well, she was a vampire and we just didn’t sleep together because she didn’t sleep at night and I wasn’t allowed at hers during the day because she needed her beauty sleep. Alone.”

 

Magnus lips are pressed into a thin line but his eyes reflect peace in his soul.

 

“It’s okay. We can figure it out.”

 

It  _ is _ awkward.

 

They snuggle together for a while and changing cuddling positions a dozen times and finally settle on a semi comfortable embrace with Alec being the little spoon for half an hour before Magnus hand starts to fall asleep without him.

 

“We suck at this, Alec.”

 

Magnus giggles and Alec bites his lip, just as amused, pulling away and shifting to face Magnus.

 

“ _ Why _ do we suck at this? It’s so easy and natural after sex, when we’re all sleepy and just kinda snuggle up and drift off. Why is it impossible when we just slid into bed right now?”

 

Magnus raises one very happy eyebrow and Alec realises his mistake.

 

“Are you suggesting we need to fuck so we can go to sleep peacefully, Alexander?”

 

He practically purrs, and Alec hits him with a pillow. It’s becoming a habit. Magnus laughs as Alec settles back on the pillow and they just lay side by side, listening to each other’s breaths and slowly drifting off until Magnus shifts, trying to take the duvet with him.

 

Alec groans.

 

“This doesn’t work, Alexander.”

 

“No shit, Sherlock.”

 

Magnus laughs, proud of his boyfriend’s popcultural improvement.

 

“I like this. The comfortable space between us, but being close enough to feel your warmth and hear your breath. But… I’m not giving up my duvet. I need it to keep me shielded from monsters.”

 

Alec laughs and Magnus smirks, but they both are dead serious in not sacrificing their cocoons.

 

“How about… One bed, two duvets?”

 

Magnus tilts his head, as if surprised and blinks, smiling widely.

 

“You, my dear, are a genius.”

 

With a snap of Magnus’ fingers they are both free to hog the duvets and they finally drift off to the soothing sound of each other’s breaths, two golden cocoons with barely any space between them.

 

Barely any space, but just enough for Chairman Meow to worms its way in it when morning comes.

 

“Magnus?”

 

“Huh?” Magnus humms, eyes still closed. It’s the next morning, just before noon, heavy curtains pleasantly shielding them from awful brightness and Alec finds himself with a nose full of fur.

 

“New rule. We close the door before going to bed.”

 

And Magnus chuckles, throwing the disgruntled Chairman off the bed, and giving Alec a kiss. Because really, it doesn’t matter if they have to close the door to keep their nosy cat out. All that matters is that they get to go to bed together, and wake up side by side.

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, comments VERY welcome, as always, not that I'm needy or anything (but I'm Chairman so of course I am) and I hope you enjoyed this. To many more Malec bed scenes in the future. Cheers!


End file.
